Sure, but at what point?If mATX, 1x 3.5" and 0x 5.25" are enough (2.5" can be put anywhere), you can seriously decrease the depth and height of the case without compromising integrity. As air has to travel less distance, cooling might actually be better.Reply

As far as I know, MSRP for the US is usually without taxes (VAT). While in Germany all prices for consumers are with taxes included. It currently retails for 100€ which is 130 USD incl. taxes and 84€ excl. taxes which translates to 109 USD. Shipping costs will likely be similar from their manufacturer to the respective countries. So 110 to 120 USD sound very plausible, depending on how aggressive they want to pursue the US market.I personally haven't heard from them and I'm from Germany. :DReply

I deal with international pricing of our product and you would not believe how much more expensive products have to be in non-US countries because of the government policies. VAT is obviously the largest issue which is typically closer to ~20% and built into the price rather than ~8% in US which most don't even pay if they order on-line. The other biggest price factor is warranty. Germany requires a 2-year warranty while the US only requires a 30-day one. Most manufactures include more in the US and use it as a competitive feature. That isn't really possible in much of the EU and everyone seems to have agreed to price fix and charge a lot for it. We charge roughly 2x the price in the EU as we do in the US between VAT and Warranty. The import duties and shipping are almost the same so they aren't a factor. Reply

What are you thoughts on the Nanoxia's door? I like the split door compromise.

I personally have moved from loving doors for providing a clean look to wanting cases with no external bays and no door for the same clean look. However, given the size of the Nanoxia I can't fault it for some external bays as cases of typical size typically have 5 or more bays. If you scaled up most mid-ATX cases up to the Nanoxia's size they would have 20 5.25" bays.Reply

Second, sans the things you already mentioned (that were of course quite minor) the only major flaw I see that was not mentioned is the lack of a SD/card reader. They're already eating up the top 5.25" bay with the fan controller/reset button, there's obviously room to put at the very least a SD card reader there, which would mean most likely people would not need the 5.25" to 3.5" adapter.

Thanks for this review, I hadn't heard of this case before and would very much like it to come to the States in time for Haswell!Reply

It would for some people. :DI personally don't need a card reader and don't want one either. All my stuff is handled by a USB cable to the necessary device (camera, phone, tablet...). If this had a reader, it would take away from the clean look and give me something ugly that's never getting used. Reply

I with you I too have absolutely no need for a card reader and consider them to be at best a legacy device. Really they are more like the zip drive which some people really needed and used and a lot of people never needed or used.

That said, I certainly would not care if they included one. I wouldn't see it much different than all the front, side, bottom USB ports they tend to litter cases with these days like blue bullet holes. Sure if I had my choice they wouldn't be there but they don't bother me either. Given that they cost $5 retail it should be a very cheap way to move any case up market for little additional manufacturing cost. The one critical caveat is that they not just install it in an external bay but make it like the USB port an integrate it into the case in a discrete way.Reply

At least the DS1 is available here in Europe already (guess it helps being from the same country as the company making them), but before i go out and buy it, whats the outlook on future cases, like the DS2? Its not available yet, but i would love a comparison to the DS1 to decide if waiting is worth it.Reply

The materials used to construct the case are important to at least a few of us, if not more. It would be nice if they were listed in the spec table. I have left a comment to this effect a few times already, but to no avail. Please consider.Reply

I had my mind set on the Fractal Design R4 for my silent built even with all the Nanoxia DS1 reviews on the web. After reading your review, however, I'm not so sure anymore. It looks like you prefer the DS1 to the R4 since it has better performance and is "more solid". I agree that the DS1 could use some more refinement but aside from performance I thought that the R4 is more solid of the two. I guess I would like to know how the two compares on the ease of assembly, quality, features, etc. In other words if they both perform about equally at the same price, which one would you prefer?

I know that the DS2 has been announced and it looks very similar to and shares many of the features of the R4. Maybe that could be the perfect case I'm looking for if it continues to improve on what they did with DS1.Reply

I reviewed the R4 and still have it on hand. I was going to build a system for a friend in it, but now I'm going to use the DS1 instead. They're also sending me a second one in the anthracite (gunmetal) finish, and I'll be moving my desktop into that most likely.

Thanks for the reply. I know you like the case but I didn't expect you to move your desktop into it though. Maybe you will have to make another move in the future (into the DS2.) I guess we'll have to wait and see.Reply

Here's an afterthought: how would the R4 perform with Nanoxia's fans? I know Nanoxia started out making fans so they have the advantage on that department. I wonder if the R4 might perform at least as well given three better case fans. I know that would drive up the total costs and make it an unfair comparison though.Reply

I think there's a reasonable chance the R4 would be much more competitive, either with Nanoxia's fans or with a pair of 140mm be quiet! fans on the intake.

The issue the R4 runs into, for me at least, is that it has virtually no clearance in the top for a radiator. What they need to do is what SilverStone did with the Temjin TJ04-E; shift the mounts towards the left side of the case to clear the motherboard.Reply

You guys not only keep your review samples, but you give them to your friends!? I thought it was good form to give away review samples if you have no long term use for them (except in a test bed or something).

I feel like I misinterpreted this comment. Could you clarify the policy on what happens to review samples after a review goes up? Reply

My company reviews products completely unrelated to computers. We footnote what we did with each sample at the bottom of the review. 50% of the equipment we send back at the request of the manufacturer. Of the other 50% we give away about 40% to our readers. I will say that giving them away takes a lot of time and expense. This is why 10% ends up going to internal staff or in a broom closet. I will say that when you review a lot of equipment you completely lose any sense of cost in a weird way so I wouldn't worry too much about it influencing a reviewers review. You still put yourself in the place of a customer when evaluating value but in your mind that $500 piece of equipment is worth $0 since you have 40 similar ones lying around collecting dust.Reply

Gunmetal finish?! Did I miss that in the review? I see they have white and Silver too but I think the Gunmetal is the best. The contrast of color makes it look a bit less German. I didn't think I'd be interested in owning a case like this but I have to admit I want one now. Certainly will keep it in mind for my next server.Reply

I have a couple of fans (the fx-1250) that are are dead silent on low and are quite on high, they seem to be good fans but one interesting marketing ploys is that they will run submerged in water. if you look on youtube you can find several vids of them doing that.

After so many rigs for which I paid pros to assemble, the Nanoxia DS1 was my choice for the first system to build from scratch with my own bare hands (figuratively, of course; but I did indeed not need my screwdriver often). While I did experience most of the issues mentioned (except the sticky I/O hinge at the top), I found none of them difficult to overcome, and the end result is sheer beauty. The combination of price and performance, I was simply wowed.What then really made the case an outstanding experience as a customer was the result of an inquiry I had sent them (some newbie question on audio headers and power switch connectors). I mailed it off on Sunday night from their website. I received the most friendly, competent and comprehensive answer I have yet received (in such combination) from a manufacturer or vendor, on Monday, 9:18 am.Should I ever need anything in the future that is also available Nanoxia, you bet they'll be my first choice.(Let me mention I'm German, yet I hold myself to have no tendency to fawn, or favor German products for nationalist considerations)Reply

Go to http://www.nanoxia-world.com/ to see more details about the DS2 (and the DS1). Seems to be a misconception here that the DS2 will be the improved version of the DS1 - it's actually a simplified and smaller case.

It's a midtower, has 7 expansion slots, 165mm CPU clearance, no chimney up top (just 2 fan mounts), a single large HDD cage, and USB/audio on top that is not hidden. It seems to me that the main item of interest is that it will accept a 240/280mm radiator mounted to a bracket behind the 3.5" bays - or an additional pair of fans.

BTW - sure seems to me that all 3 HDD bays are removable on the DS1, Dustin.Reply

can't say i'm impressed, not sure why everyone's still using those ancient drive cages/sleds. especially in a case that focuses on efficiency. a smarter solution would be 4 independent vertical rails, just wide/thick enough to be rigid. Reply

Sounds like an interesting concept. Can you give an example of a case that does this? My pet peeve are external bays but I also think internal ones could be designed better and have been trying to find someone doing something new in this area.Reply

I am still running my main rig in a P180 :). It rocks. And it's used for gaming, playing server and everything else at the same time. While overclocked. The only problem I have now is that I have put so many HDDs into it (replacing the upper stock HDD cage) that I reduced it's air intake too far :(.Reply

In my opinion, the only sources of noise in most modern computers should be two 140mm+ fans: The CPU fan and the PSU fan. The 140mm CPU fan on a 120mm heatsink can be ducted to the rear exhaust port - no need for case fans. SSDs make no noise. Hard drives make no noise when idle, and when running they require no active cooling, see the Google hard drive study. Integrated GPUs obviously don't need extra cooling.

It's possible to eliminate the PSU fan by using a fanless PSU, but this limits your GPU choices. As for high-end GPUs like a GTX680, one could easily imagine an aftermarket GPU heatsink with a 140mm which spins at inaudible speeds on idle.

Combine all that with a quiet case and an inch of soundproofing stuff, and your computer will be literally inaudible by human ears when idle.Reply

Any interest in anandtech reviewing a CaseLabs case? I know real water cooling is a bit too "enthusiast" for this site, but still might be a nice to compare an SM8 with the Corsair 900D when/if it launches. Although I'm planning to do that myself anyway, it would be nice to see the professional/mainstream view also.Reply

Dustin: thanks for the "requested" review! It was very insightful and objective, and helped with my decision. I'll be buying one as soon as it becomes available at NewEgg; and BTW, I prefer the Anthracite version also.

NewEgg just replied to my e-mail inquiry as to when it will be available on their Web site, and their response was "hopefully by Jan. 2013".Reply

Sharea website with you ,( socanpower. ca)Believe you will love it.laptop battery,CPU fan,AC power adapters.DC power adapters and laptop keyboard.I bought two. Cheap, good quality, you cango and ship with there.Reply

How much air intake is left from the front if I would put a 3.5" HDD in each HDD slide (and I would probably install 4 in the 3x5.25" bays too :P). From the pictures in the review I don't really have an idea how much space would be left around the HDDs. Thanks!Reply

After reading this review I built a home office/home server using 2012 essentials in this case. My boot drive is a samsung 840 and I have put in 6 x WD red 3 TB drives. Air flow seems fine and I am running it at low setting. Case is extremely quiet and cool.I used i3770s for cpu and there is no gpu installed.Reply

at the end of the day its still what you like the most and what you get for the dollar. i REALLY like fractal cases and the fact that they are coming out with new cases and revisions and constantly make their products better is a very admirable quality. i have a define r3 an i love it, getting a node 304 for xmas. i would also buy a bitfenix ghost, if i had to choose between this case, a ghost or a define r4 id probably get the r4, the second choice would be the ghostReply

Should be able to crowd source a silent PC system. It may not look like your PC. It should be 99% silent, and very cheap. There's nothing that dictates that sound baffling has to be dense and heavy. Airflow, aka cooling, does not need to be generated by noisy fan blades or even push air.

There are lots of different materials to use for a case, and it does not need to be rectangular inside or out. Sound travels, so lets move it somewhere. Sound vibration that is put to work can be transformed into a melody, even a symphony, or it can be effortlessly extinguished.

Overall, a silent PC system should have been defacto 10 years ago. It is an engineering problem that does not require traveling faster than light. Throw a lamp shade over your PC for a second. It's already quieter.Reply

I'd love to see a temp/sound test with all the fan bays filled with the largest size they hold, on low.From what I see, it has 7 fan slots, and ships with 3, according to newegg, so that's how I assume you tested it.Reply

You can remove the top 2 drive bays and slot one of them in the space on the bottom between the PSU and the fixed drivebay, leaving 2 thirds of one fan to cool the closest drives and 1 and 1 thirds worth of direct airflow towards the GPU and CPU. It makes a huge difference.Reply

All well and good. I bought the case and this may be also a nitpick, however, most Motherboards these days come with Molex fan plugs for intelligent fan control and this case comes with old-type 3 wire fan plugs which defeats the purpose. In addition, if you buy adapters (only from England so far), this case is no longer competitive. It also comes with a "Molex to Power adapter" which doesn't seem to plug in anywhere (as far as I could tell). The whole "fan" power up thing is flaky at best. Reply